Forrester says 96% of Indian enterprises have adopted hybrid cloud as AI costs, data rules, and resilience needs reshape strategy.
India’s cloud story is entering a new chapter. A new Forrester report, “The State Of Cloud In India, 2026,” shows that Indian enterprises have largely moved past whether to adopt cloud computing. The focus has shifted to managing complex, multi-environment setups as artificial intelligence costs climb, data regulations tighten, and resilience becomes a boardroom concern.
Hybrid is the new normal
According to the report, 96% of Indian enterprises now run a hybrid cloud strategy, mixing public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises systems. Hybrid has become the default approach, replacing earlier “cloud-first” thinking with a more calculated “cloud-smart” approach. Notably, 85% of public cloud architects said they use cloud-native tools even outside public cloud environments, showing how much businesses now value flexibility over sticking to one platform.
Resilience and skills take priority
Enterprises say their top priorities for the next stage of cloud maturity include strengthening resilience across platforms (68%), building stronger cloud skills among staff (66%), improving data governance (64%), and enhancing cloud connectivity (63%). Companies now worry less about migration and more about keeping systems dependable.
Cost control gains ground
Cost management, long a pain point in cloud spending, is becoming more disciplined. Sixty-seven per cent of decision-makers already have a formal FinOps practice in place, and another 18% plan to adopt one within a year, showing greater accountability around cloud and AI budgets.
AI is reshaping infrastructure choices
Thirty per cent of respondents are already investing in AI and generative AI services through public cloud providers. But rising infrastructure costs and performance needs are pushing many to rethink where AI workloads should live.
Sovereignty and compliance matter more
Sensitive data continues to stay in private clouds or on-premises systems because of regulatory and licensing concerns, reflecting India’s growing focus on data sovereignty.
“India’s cloud market has entered a new phase where success is no longer defined by how quickly organizations move workloads to the cloud, but by how effectively they operate hybrid environments at scale,” said Biswajeet Mahapatra, principal analyst at Forrester.